Spitz: Are you mad? You should be

Tuesday

Sep 25, 2012 at 12:01 AMSep 25, 2012 at 6:14 PM

Like jeans, rage rarely goes out of style. But some seasons it's hotter than others. Full-on rage is, well, all the rage this fall. Whether it's Patriots coach Bill Belichick grabbing a replacement ref's arm or Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong launching a profanity-laced tirade, people from all walks of life are boiling over.

Julia Spitz/Daily News staff

Like jeans, rage rarely goes out of style. But some seasons it's hotter than others.

Full-on rage is, well, all the rage this fall.

Whether it's Patriots coach Bill Belichick grabbing a replacement ref's arm or Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong launching a profanity-laced tirade, people from all walks of life are boiling over.

Youth sports parents can usually be counted on to jump on the bandwagon, and this season they haven't disappointed. A Long Island dad/youth baseball coach was arraigned over the weekend on charges he's been stalking the family of a rival dad/coach because of a call at a tournament for 10-year-olds last May.

Even the normally cool-headed conservative columnist Peggy Noonan is catching the bug and going on a Mitt Romney rant. When asked if she wanted to rephrase her opinion that the campaign is incompetent, she admitted she had perhaps been too polite in her word choice, and decided "rolling calamity'' was more accurate.

Speaking of rolling calamities, Occupy Boston protesters are planning a reunion next weekend. The prospect of more police overtime and more mess to clean up should have Boston taxpayers feeling the rage.

Foreign tourists are also getting into the act. You have to have some anger management issues if you're willing to brandish a knife to get a cannoli after-hours, as a gentleman visiting from Ireland did this month.

With less than two months to go before the election, outrageous untruths crafted to fuel added rage pop up like whack-a-moles on social media sites.

The Red Sox season with Bobby Valentine at the helm has even the most casual fans frothing at the mouth and Googling the term "tar and feather.’’

Pats fans, players and Belichick aren’t alone in their rage over questionable calls. NFL viewers of all stripes, except maybe a few Cincinnati Bengals fans, are calling for second-string zebras to be pulled from the lineup.

Hockey aficionados aren’t a happy lot either this fall.

And just in case you’re in that half-a-percent of the population who isn’t in a rage right now, there’s fresh red meat arriving every day.

Like the story about the 480-pound murderer in Ohio who's fighting his execution order on the grounds it would be too painful a procedure for a guy of his size.

If you aren't still fuming about our problems closer to home, like the potential for being on the hook for all the legal fees murderer Michelle/Robert Kosilek has racked up in his/her lengthy fight to get us to pay for his/her sex change, and the prospect of convicted drug dealers going back on our streets thanks to the state drug lab mess, then pondering how a person maintains a weight of 480 after a few decades in prison ought to do the trick.

Or you can choose to hit the roof when you hear resporters say the Emmys signal "the beginning of the awards season'' and ponder how you could have possibly missed the off-season, since there certainly doesn't seem to be a shortage of awards for celebrities at every point in the year.

Without even touching on the fear and anger we feel over ongoing displays of anti-American rage in the Middle East, we have plenty of opportunities to keep our rage simmering for the foreseeable future.

Which is the last straw for "can't we all just get along?'' types like me.

I'm mad rage can't be more like leggings and less like jeans.

(Julia Spitz can be reached at 508-626-3968 or jspitz@wickedlocal.com. You can also read the Spitz Bits blog at www.metrowestdailynews.com/blogs/spitzbits and follow tweets at twitter.com/SpitzJ.)

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